Friday, August 31, 2007

Here is an example of Charles Rennie Mackintosh's architectural and design work. His wife Margaret Macdonald worked with him on his interior designs. Charles, Margaret, her sister Frances and Herbert MacNair all formed a design group known as "The Four."

Thursday, August 30, 2007

Mackintosh's insterest in plants began at a young age and continued throughout his life. Although he is most famous as an architect, his talent in painting watercolors should also be appreciated.

"Art is the flower-life is the green leaf. Let every artist strive to make his flower a beautiful living thing - something that will convince the world that there may be - there are - things more precious - more beautiful - more lasting than life."

Wednesday, August 29, 2007

Monet is the most famous of the 19th century group of artists known as the Impressionists. The effect of the light upon the pond that Monet sought to capture was accomplished by using millions of small brush strokes. The water garden is part of his home at Giverny and he built it so he could paint the same scene at all the different times of the day, in order to capture all of the different effects of the light.

Monday, August 27, 2007

A Florilegium is a collection of flora, most often garden flowers. The earliest known examples date to about the 15th century, but as you can see from this example, they continue to be produced in the present day. The Victorians were very fond of gardening and many Florilegia were produced in the 19th century.

Thursday, August 23, 2007

Kandinsky was one of the most influential Abstract artists of the 20th century. He was a teacher of both law and later art, teaching for a number of years at the German Bauhaus. He himself claimed he became interested in abstraction after seeing one of his paintings upside down.

Wednesday, August 15, 2007

"Lawrence never completed high school but taught himself African American history, spending hours in the library researching legendary black figures and events to use in his paintings. " (Smithsonian website)

Monday, August 13, 2007

Renoir was studying the effects of light at different times of the day at one of his favorite venues and as he enjoyed himself with his friends - good work if you can get it. One of the most famous of the Impressionists, he was working closely with Monet at this time.

Friday, August 10, 2007

Leonardo created two almost identical versions of the same scene of the Virgin with the angel Uriel, John the Baptist and the Christ child. The first work was commissioned by an organization and when they did not pay right away it was purchased by an individual, finally the group gathered the money and another version was made for them.

Tuesday, August 07, 2007

Lalique whose name is better known for his glass than his jewelry, created some amazing art nouveau jewelry, as he was trained as a jeweler. His jewelry often incorporated enamel which led him to begin to work in glass.

Sunday, August 05, 2007

This work is one of only three portraits of women done by Leonardo and has sustained a lot of retouching and overpainting throughout the years. However the woman (whose identity remains in dispute) and the ermine itself are so wonderful they are both considered to have been painted by da Vinci. The ermine has actually been identified as a ferret.

Seized by the Nazi's in WWII the painting was returned to Poland in 1946.

Friday, August 03, 2007

Called the Night Watch in modern times, the original title of this work Company of Captain Frans Banning Cocq and Lieutenant Willem van Ruytenhurch was a reference to its main characters. The "golden girl" in the background is a mystery. Considering the very fine clothing she wears, she is assumed to be more than a servant. Also her resemblance to Rembrandt's wife has been noted. The final misinterpretation lies in the name of the work, it was not painted as a night image, but had been covered in layers of brown varnish until it was restored after WW II.

Wednesday, August 01, 2007

Tiffany's father began the jewelry business that has become on of the world's most famous and Louis Comfort Tiffany could have settled into the family business, but instead he chose to create a legacy of his own and some of the most widely collected and prized art glass in the world.